Maxwell Lombardi

Name: Maxwell Lombardi

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12th Grade

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Fencing, Archery, Making friends in high places, Classical Literature, Writing, Music, Muay Thai

Appearance: Maxwell stands at approximately 5'8, and weighs around 140 lb. He is considered by most people's standards to be attractive with his soft, clean shaven face and athletic build. His dark brown hair is cut into a short, smart style with dark red highlights to make him stand out from the rest of the crowd. He has dark, almost black eyebrows, which depending on your perspective either make him look dashing or threatening. Either way, they go well with his striking dark blue eyes. Because of his partially Italian heritage, his skin tone is slightly darker then most, whilst still light enough to have him classified as being Caucasian.

His usual choice of clothing consists of a black shirt, a maroon tie, a smart white jacket with smart white pants to match, a black leather belt with a silver buckle, and shiny black shoes to top it off.

Biography: Maxwell was born in Norwich, Norfolk in eastern England to a wealthy upper class family. Whilst his mother Samantha Blake was a conservative barrister, his father Jonathan Blake followed the footsteps of his own father as a contemporary music composer, who himself was following in the footsteps of his father, the Italian immigrant Alfonso Lombardi. Alfonso was well respected back in his home country of Italy, but after immigrating to Britain to escape Mussolini's fascist regime found nothing but poverty awaiting him, leading him to die a poor a forgotten man. However, during this time he married and had three children, two girls and a son. Before he died, he taught his son everything he knew, and his son in turn taught his own son (Jonathan) everything his father taught him. Jonathan and his father both proved to be far more successful, even if their music never make it into the mainstream. Because of their relative successes, Jonathan had grown to be a far wealthier man then his grandfather, and decided to use his wealth and knowledge in aiding his own son, Maxwell, follow the family tradition and become a great contemporary music composer.

Because of his father's influence, Maxwell grew to have a significant interest in classical music. He often enjoys listening to the tunes of Beethoven or Bach, especially whilst he practiced his many other hobbies. These include chess, painting, horseback riding, archery, fencing, fox hunting (Despite his terrible accuracy with a rifle), cricket and reading classical literature. Ever since he could remember, Maxwell has had a massive interest in classical literature. Some of his favourites include the works of Christopher Marlowe and H.G Welles, both of whom wrote many of his favourite novels and plays. To a lesser extent, he’s also fond of Kenneth Branagh movies, his favourites being Othello and the 1994 version of Frankenstein.

He also has a great interest in Muay Thai (A martial arts style from Thailand) and over time has become quite proficient with the style. He often contends in Muay Thai tournaments, and often tends to win them. He also has a tendency to mix his style with that of moves usually found in taekwondo, another martial arts style he has a passing interest in.

Whilst he lived in Britain, his family where able to bless him with privileges most people could only dream of. He would go on holidays to the Mediterranean, skiing trips to Switzerland and eat the finessed delicacies from the most private of restaurants. Because of this, he grew up to become particularly prideful and selfish, and he rarely (if ever) thinks of anybody else’s welfare before his own. However, he also has a great sense in individualism, and despises hive mentality and people who attempt to be “part of the crowd”. He was also given the best education money could buy, and dreamed of one day being able to attend Oxford University. He made many friends at school, mainly fellow upper class students, most of whom stuck by his side even through the worst of situations.

The reason for this is partially because of Maxwell's almost excellent diplomatic skills. Since he was a child, Maxwell has always been good at convincing people he was right, or into doing what he wants them to do. Whilst for the most part he tends to succeed, there has been multiple moments wherein this has backfired, sometimes ending up with him lying down bruised and beaten in the dirt (A partial reason as to why he decided to practice Muay Thai). He’s also a renowned ladies man, thanks to both his gentlemanly manner and attractiveness. Although, that being said, there are just as many women who finds his personality despicable and avoid him at all costs. His mental fortitude also has something to do with it, seeing as he can deal with situations where most people would buckle under pressure.

Whilst throughout most of his life he’s lived in Britain, recently (After his father accepted a job offer that promised far, far better wages to what he was used to) he and his family moved to St Paul, Minnesota. Maxwell found the change difficult, seeing as he could no longer hang out with any of his old friends back in Norwich. To make matters worse for him, the cost of the move proved greater then they thought, and for the past few months Maxwell has had to temporarily attend a state school as opposed to one of the various private schools in St Paul. Needless to say, Maxwell hasn’t enjoyed his stay. He has little love for the comparatively poorer students around him, and has made little effort to socialize or befriend them. This is partially due to the fact that, seeing as he’s only going to be attending Bayview temporarily, he doesn't see much of a point in making any friends there. Because of this, and because of his prideful nature, he is often viewed negatively by some of his fellow students at Bayview who find him to be self righteous egotist. Despite this, many still find him to be somewhat attractive, and those who’ve seen him practice Muay Thai tend to be impressed by his abilities.

Advantages: His primary talent is his diplomatic skills, as he can manipulate and convince most gullible people with relative ease. And, when diplomacy fails, his Muay Thai training can come in handy, as would his small experience in archery and fencing. Mentally, he could probably handle the pressure despite the enormous amount of stress, at the very least for longer then most people could.

Disadvantages: His pride can easily get the better of him, causing him to enter situations blindly without thinking about it beforehand. He has a nack for for underestimating people's abilites, meaning that he could easlity mistake people for not being as dangerous as they actually are. He also has little to no practical survival skills, having never been on a camping trip without at least three others to do all the work for him. Also (Despite being a former practitioner of fox hunting) he's never been a good shot with a rifle, or any gun for that matter.

Designated Number: Male student no. 47

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Designated Weapon: Targe

Conclusion: My advice to Mr. Lombardi is very simple: stay behind that shield and never come out! He may have some brawn and he may have some brains, but they'll not do him any good if he catches a bullet!

'The above biography is as written by Fioriboy. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Fioriboy

Kills: Augustus MacDougal, Harold Fisher, Vera Osborne, Cody Jenkins, Daniel Blessing, Simon Grey, Marybeth Witherspoon, Marco Stonecastle, Duncan McMahon, Cassidy Wakemore, Kevin Harding, George Leidman, Julian Avery

Killed By: Naoko Raidon

Collected Weapons: Targe (Assigned weapon, discarded), TOZ-194 (From Augustus MacDougal, discarded), Glock 17 (From Harold Fisher, stolen by Mizore Soryu ), Intratec DC-9 (From Vera Osborne, discarded), Korth Pistol (From Daniel Blessing, stolen by Clio Gabriella), javelin (From Cassidy Wakemore, lost)

Allies: Clio Gabriella

Enemies: Nick Reid, Augustus MacDougal, Harold Fisher, Reiko Ishida, Vera Osborne, Cody Jenkins, Imraan Al-Hariq, Daniel Blessing, Simon Grey, Carol Burke, Haruka Watanabe, Marybeth Witherspoon, Marco Stonecastle, Duncan McMahon, Maria Graham, Cassidy Wakemore, Kevin Harding, Sarah Atwell, Alice Boucher, Mizore Soryu, Julian Avery, Naoko Raidon.

Mid-game Evaluation: Maxwell started the game inside one of the many shacks that made up the mines, confused and conflicted as to how he should go about the game. At first, he strongly consider's playing when he realises that he didn't even want to go on the school trip in the first place. However, he quickly brushes the thought aside when concludes that playing the game would mean playing by Danya's rules, not to mention the fact that he doubted that he'd be able to stomach the thought of killing someone. Shortly afterwards, with his thoughts on escape rather than murder, he spies on Remy Kim and his sister Josée Trembley as they attempt to converse with Reiko Ishida, whom Maxwell recognizes as Sarah Xu's prom date. Despite his feelings towards Reiko's sexual orientation, Maxwell decides to follow her and attempt to form something of an allience.

After tracking her across the island to the gazebo, Maxwell decides to attempt to make contact with her by putting on his "Hugh Grant" act, wherein he pretends to be a bumbling if somewhat charming Englishman who stumbles down the hill by accident. However, he soon realises that Reiko is actually something of a callous bitch, and his attempt at looking sympathetic instead draws the attention of Daniel Vaughan and Evelyn Reed. Irritated by the new arrivals complicating matters, Maxwell attempts to make conversation, only for Reiko to then leave unexpectidly alongside Janet Claymont awaking by the flowerbed. Angered by the sudden turn of events, Maxwell yells frustratingly at Evelyn only to be interupted by Daniel getting hit in the back of the head by a molotov thrown by Nick Reid. Already in a state of rage, Maxwell chases down Nick and beats him to within an inch of his life, only to stop when he realises that he nearly killed him by accident. With this in mind, Maxwell leaves the area as he continues his search for a way to get off the island.

One day later, after traveling all across the island, Maxwell awakes inside a cave by the beach which he'd taken refuge in for the night. After a quick breakfast and listening in on the first announcement, he decides to head outside for some fresh air to get his thoughts straight. However, the young Brit stops in his tracks when he spots Augustus MacDougal pointing a shotgun in his direction and threataning him to surrender his equipment. Not willing to give in so easily, Maxwell smiles and confidently attempts to talk Dougal into leaving him be, inadvertidly insulting Dougal's girlfriend in the process. Angered, Dougal attempts to gun Maxwell down on the spot, only to miss and fall onto his back due to the gun's recoil. Whilst Maxwell is stunned at first, he quickly becomes enraged at the thought that Dougal just tried to kill him, and in anger pounces onto him and strangles Dougal to death. After doing so, Maxwell realises that he actually enjoyed killing Dougal a lot more than he assumed he would, a though which disturbs him to the core. But before he could leave the scene, Harold Fisher comes along and attempts to threaten Maxwell, playing with his gun as he does so. Luckily for Maxwell though, Harold drops his gun, giving the young Brit the opportunity to punch him in the face. With another student as his mercy, Maxwell decides to give in to temptation once again and shoots Harold in the head, killing him instantly. With his newfound love for murder, Maxwell decides that playing the game isn't such a hard thing after all, and that he was wasting his time attempting to find an alternate way off the island. So, with this in mind, he quickly packs up and heads off to carve his own path through V4... Right after gloating to the cameras, of course.

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:


 * "Now then, I'm afraid I must bid you all adieu. I look forward to meeting the rest of your children, siblings, lovers, friends and what not. And I'm sure they're looking forward to meeting me as well..." - Casually addressing the audience immediately after killing Augustus MacDougal and Harold Fisher.

Other/Trivia

 * As of No Rest for the Wicked, Maxwell became Fioriboy's unofficial flagship due to his relative popularity.
 * Whilst he was always intended as a villain from the beginning, Fioriboy originally intended to have him start playing from the start. However, after giving the character some thought, he decided that it would be out of character for him to start playing so quickly and decided to have him as something of a Jerkish Antihero for a while before inevitably giving in to the game. However, it quickly dawned to him that playing Maxwell as a hero was incredibly boring, and decided to have him become a player much sooner than he'd intended.
 * Maxwell was originally going to feel regret for his first few kills... Until Fioriboy noticed that V4 had no shortage of Anti Villains mourning over the pain they had inflicted upon others, and decided that having Maxwell become a remorseless and unsympathetic bastard who actually enjoys killing people would be much more interesting. Not to mention way more fun to write about.
 * In hindsight, theres a lot of things about Maxwell's backstory/appearence which Fioriboy has grown to dislike to a certain degree. Such as his partially italian heritige and the red highlights in his hair.
 * Ironically, Fioriboy happens to be handler No.666......
 * As of Julian Avery's death, Maxwell Lombardi has the highest number of kills to one person in a single game of SOTF, at 13 total.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Maxwell, in chronological order.

The Past:


 * No threads

Pre-Game:


 * Let the Dance Begin!
 * The Dance Must go on!
 * A Hard Day's Night

V4:


 * Wake Me Up...
 * The Right Thing for the Wrong Reasons
 * No Rest for the Wicked
 * Walk The Line
 * Your Cross to Bear
 * Lean on Me
 * Out and In
 * Breaking Down the Wall
 * No Crying Allowed
 * In the House, In a Heartbeat
 * Fatal Fury
 * Requiem for a Rock Star
 * Cruel Justice
 * Intermission
 * Riddles Of Monsters
 * Paint it Black
 * Into The Jaws of Hell
 * You Already Know How This Ends
 * Retribution

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Maxwell Lombardi. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''

If Maxwell was real, I'd probably be in love with him. This really just shows my failures as a person, I think. But yes, he is a huge cock, and yes, I absolutely adore him. - Hollyquin

Not even a character any more. Just a thing that makes people die. - Anonymous

I have to admit, whilst I know Maxwell was far from perfect (Thank you above annonymous person for that helpful comment), but I had a lot of fun writing him and I'm happy to have had a character who had a fairly notable role to play in V4. Peace out Maxwell, you son of a bitch. - Fioriboy

Maxwell Lombardi, you are such a jackass. Why, oh, why did you have to die so early in the game? But seriously, Maxwell was a great character, and v4 is all the less without him. - decoy73

He is so badass that he even is still making people die after kicking the bucket himself. He is going to remain my favorite villain, for ever. Unrepentant. - Nadir

While the anon up there isn't very classy for how they handled that, I have to agree with the sentiment. Maxwell is, in my opinion, one of the weakest players we've had. He was totally devoid of consistent characterization by the time he died, & what little there was consisted of some very forced quips & dull "villainous" clichés (or, at his absolute worst, sexually molesting a dying character out of the blue). & even despite being taken down by an all-star cast of three of my favorite characters in v4, his death was just silly & unsatisfying. All in all, Maxwell has been one of v4's least compelling characters. Fiori is a solid writer on his own (see Vera Osborne & Marty Lovett for proof of that), so I hope to see him avoiding characters like Max in v5 so that he can get a chance to show that. - karsk

I just thought I'd say that v4 was absolutely v4 with Maxwell Lombardi in it. I could not imagine it without him. To me, he was one of the stars. Fiori took a huge risk in doing a huge-profile player with a large kill-count, and he provided. We got a player with a rocketing kill count, and that's really all we needed. Was he cliche? Yes. Was he repetitive? Yes. But that was what made him so enjoyable, it was the cliche and the repetitiveness that made this loveable, enigmatic cock the British player we all loved, hated, loved to hate and hated to love. Maxwell was a smug bastard who failed to disappoint in any aspects, when honestly, he was very much needed among the players. I fail to see any other player, no matter how much development, who did their part in the story. The other players moped, whined, angsted, but only Maxwell and Ericka Bradley did their job: kill people, and feel no remorse. The fact that he has people divided on how they view him only proves his success as a character - I applaud you Fiori, and I can't wait to see what you do come v5. - Inky

Quite frankly, controversy is no barometer of success, and claiming it is shows a lack of understanding of what the game is about. SOTF isn't about high kill counts and excessive blood. It never has been. It's about characters. Did anyone care how many people Bryan Calvert killed? No. I'm going to go ahead and break professionalism here to comment on a comment, because it needs to be said. My thoughts on Maxwell will come afterwards.

To claim that no other player did their job in V4 is to display a shocking ignorance of the game, and to insult about a dozen handlers who wrote quality characters. When has Kris Hartmann angsted? When has Liam Brooks felt remorse? When has Rob Jenkins apologized for murdering people for being the wrong race? More than that, why is displaying depth of character a bad thing? What is a player's part in the story? To be a mere plot device? That suggests that players are not even characters, along the lines of what the anonymous comment above states.

To claim that controversy equates to success is to place Blood Boy and Mariavel Varella as our finest and most successful characters. After all, who else has created such discussion, even years after their deaths? To claim that Ericka Bradley has never felt remorse is to do TDS a huge disservice, and also suggests you haven't actually read all of her posts.

Luckily, Maxwell is no Blood Boy or Mariavel. He still had a long way to progress to be a compelling villain, though. The problem with Maxwell was, he was highly unfocused as a character. A high body count does not make a character scary. What makes a character truly chilling is when you can get inside their head, when you can see what makes them tick, and you say, "Holy smokes, that makes sense." Maxwell had that until he started killing. Until his kills, Maxwell was without a doubt among my favorite characters. He had a very interesting internal conflict, as his latent sadism and sense of superiority conflicted, as he tried to rationalize the fact that he wanted to play the game but at the same time felt above it. It was in these moments that he truly came alive as a character. I truly wish this path had been followed as he progresed, because it was a fascinating dichotomy. It could easily have been interwoven into his path as a player while avoiding the dreaded "angst".

Unfortunately, once he began killing, that conflict was quickly lost to random sadism. He lost depth when he stopped thinking, and he lost menace when he let character after character get away for no real reason, or, worse, through ridiculous mistakes. He saddled the awkward ground between a comedy player, (forgetting to load his gun, letting himself get robbed while having sex, etc.) and a true threat (killing a dozen people), but played neither role particularly well due to it.

Maxwell's finest moment as a player came when he cornered Marty under a bed. How he truly shined was as a threat, not as a viewpoint character. His thoughts tended to be repetetive and detract from his overall menace by being too over the top; after the first thread or two, it became clear that he enjoyed hurting people. Constant reminders only dampened the effect of his actual violence. He also had trouble as a villain because his writing was far too self-aware of his villainy. It's hard to believe someone who in constantly meditating upon their own evil. While we saw him from someone else's perspective, he was suddenly all he was cracked up to be.

Maxwell is by no means the worst player SOTF has seen, but he failed to reach his potential, which is a darn shame. I won't go on a tangent about my hops for the future, but I'll leave it at I feel Fior has learned a ton throughout V4, and improved his writing skill greatly, and I look forward to seeing the directions he takes in V5. - KillerVole

Maxwell Lombardi. Beaten. Stabbed in the nads. Face blown up with a flash grenade. Takes 5 shots, staggers back, and remains concious until hitting the ground at the bottom of a cliff. Rasputin anyone? -JF